SHIFT POLICY ON DRUG ABUSE

N.Y. needs to join growing movement away from excessively punitive
laws.

All across the country, citizens and lawmakers are changing their
minds about the merit of punitive drug laws and recognizing that
treatment programs are the smartest and most effective way to fight
drug abuse. While there are strong signs that New Yorkers also
support such a policy shift, Gov. Pataki and legislative leaders
remain too willing to stick with what doesn't work.

In response to citizen complaints about New York's 26-year-old
Rockefeller drug laws-- among the toughest in the nation-- Pataki has
proposed what amounts to tinkering. Even with his changes, a person
arrested for possession of small amounts of cocaine could still be
required to serve at least 25 years in jail. The draconian laws are a
big reason New York's 70,000-inmate prison population is one of the
largest in the country.

It's telling, too, that despite the state's harsh laws, drug abuse is
as rampant as ever. Heroin abuse is actually making a comeback as a
drug of popular choice. Pataki's proposed remedy of giving judges
more discretion to send first-time drug offenders to treatment just
doesn't cut it. While drug treatment is part of the solution, it must
be a much bigger part.

In Arizona, the state's mostly conservative voters twice in recent
years approved a referendum that requires drug offenders to undergo
treatment. According to The New York Times, that change marked a major
departure from the state Legislature's "lock 'em up and throw away the
key" philosophy which had resulted in Arizona having one of the
highest imprisonment rates in the country.

Critics still unpersuaded that treatment works should look at the
savings in tax dollars. In New York, it costs about $32,000 a year to
incarcerate the estimated 23,300 people serving time for drug
offenses. Now compare that to the less than $20,000 annual cost of
drug treatment. Remember, too, that researchers for the Drug Abuse
Treatment Outcome Study found that offenders who remained in treatment
for at least 30 days were twice as likely to be drug-free one year
after treatment.

Democrats in the state Assembly, to their credit, have a history of
seeking more drug treatment funds. Unfortunately, Speaker Sheldon
Silver has cut off debate over drug treatment spending with his
refusal to consider Pataki's modest change in the Rockefeller laws.
He should reconsider.

Silver's right: The Rockefeller laws need a major overhaul. But by at
least considering the governor's proposal, inroads towards making
substantive changes could be made. More money for drug treatment is
worth the try.